Namesake 3: The Three Musketeers
by dickard23
Summary: An Azula, Lu Ten, Azulon fic showing the bond between the three exceptional firebenders. Fire wasn't just about death and destruction. It was also a way of life. Azula learned this lesson from her grandfather long before Zuko met the dragons, but Ozai made her forget it.


The Three Musketeers

Firebenders are surprisingly rare in the Fire Nation. Unlike the other nations, bending was a sign of nobility, which meant there were fewer firebenders born, since nobles tended to have fewer children than commoners.

Many of the firebenders born left the country. They were in the Earth Kingdom, fighting, in some cases enforcing colonial rule, or dead.

Within the nobility, firebenders were a class above nonbenders. Even firebending peasants could elevate their status to compete with nonbending nobility if they any were good.

The better the firebender, the more important you became, no matter who you were.

This was most important in the royal family, the most powerful bending family in the world.

Iroh was naturally better than Ozai. He quickly became Azulon's favored son and no matter how many time Ozai foiled an assassination plot or got the nobility in line, he could never even get a chance to show Azulon he was a worthy son, much less Fire Lord potential.

This disparity was so apparent that Lu Ten was automatically Azulon's best grandchild. None of the children Ozai produced could possibly hold a candle to him.

Zuko's birth was uneventful as far as the Fire Lord was concerned. Maybe he'd make a good soldier some day. Azula's birth was a yawn. She's a girl; ok, maybe she'll marry someone important, but that's about it.

It was all Iroh and Lu Ten as far as Azulon was concerned. They were the Three Musketeers, a club Ozai bitterly resented being left out of, but then, Azula snuck into Azulon's chambers, revealing herself as carrying a blue flame, the first one seen in a hundred years.

She instantly became the grandchild to look out for, the one who would do amazing things. Iroh was a general. As he waged campaigns in the Earth Kingdom, Azula got the chance to become the third musketeer.

93AG

Azula did not want to practice the piano. "I hate it!" Azula told her mother repeatedly, just like I hate you.

"Every princess can play the piano."

"Can you?" Azula retorted.

"Yes," Ursa lied.

"Then why did you hire me a teacher!"

Ursa dragged Azula to her lesson.

She hated being inside "like a lady" while the boys got to firebend. It wasn't fair.

Ursa wanted Azula to play when they had company. This meant she actually had to practice instead of playing in the yard like a boy. She was so difficult. Zuko was so easy.

* * *

><p>One morning, the servants came to wake up Princess Azula.<p>

"Why so early?"

"The Fire Lord wants you."

Azula scrambled to get dressed and reported for duty. She ran into Lu Ten on the way.

"What's this about?"

The time we stole Ursa's dim sum? "I don't know."

They got there, and Azulon told them, "Lu Ten, Azula, today the three of us will be going on a firebenders' retreat. It is important that I show you two the way of the line of Sozin.

"Awesome!" Azula said loudly in her mind. She bowed. "Thank you my Lord." She wouldn't curtsy to him. No matter how many times her mother told her to.

Lu Ten nodded to his grandfather

"Get ready. We leave in thirty minutes."

Unsure of what Azula needed, she packed, water, towels if she needed to dry something off, the hunting knife Lu Ten bought her (that she hid from her mother), and rope in case they needed to tie something.

The trio got on Azulon's palanquin and headed off to his favorite training grounds.

* * *

><p>Ozai went out for Azula's lesson. She wasn't in the yard as he expected. He did not like to be kept waiting. "Servant, find Azula."<p>

He went to her room to see it was empty. He checked with the guards and then he reported to Ozai, "Prince, she is with the Fire Lord today."

"Why?"

"He took her and Lu Ten to learn some firebending."

He didn't just train them here.

"I see." Azulon must have done this last minute. Azula would have told him if she knew she wasn't going to be here.

Ozai wondered what secret things they did together. He was amused that his second born was in the club, when he had been the set aside for his older brother, but he was also jealous that Azula showed a potential at 7, that he apparently didn't have at 40. He would have to make sure to keep very good control over. Or else, she'll realize he's expendable.

* * *

><p>Azulon took them off site because he found the rest of the family annoying. Zuko was always sniffling like a baby. Ozai was just a bigger baby with a bad temper, and his wife was kind of pathetic. She had no personality to her, like she would just acquiesce for whatever male was in front of her.<p>

Azula had attitude. She had drive. She was a girl who mattered. She was nothing like her mother.

"Here we are," he said as the palanquin came to a halt. They hoped down and he sent the crew away.

Azulon always started with his katas. He did them all in a row, never taking a break or an extra breath. His movements were as rhythmic as a clock.

It was easy to watch Azulon and marvel at his perfection. Lu Ten and Azula both new better. They focused on their own training. Making sure each move was in its proper place.

After the drill, they would meditate. Some meditated first, but Azulon wanted his mind to already be on fire when he tried to channel Agni.

Both Lu Ten and Azula felt comfortable with meditation. It was often lost to firebenders because of the war, but the best benders knew that Agni was more than just a talking point. He was the ultimate source.

Azulon would watch his grandchildren, observing what he could already do and then he would teach each of them a new move. He would then stump them both with a move that was so complex, they couldn't tell how he did it, or how long it would be before they could do it.

He wanted them to improve each session, but also to remember that there was still a far way to go. There was always a far way to go. The possibilities were infinite.

* * *

><p>Zuko had a lesson with his father. He was surprised that Ozai didn't mention how much better Azula did today. He always did. Instead, Ozai had this blank look on his face. Zuko didn't know what it meant.<p>

It wasn't until lunch that he realized that Azula hadn't been around all day. "Is she sick?" he asked his father.

"What?"

"Azula, she's not here."

"You just noticed. The Fire Lord took her and Lu Ten on a retreat."

"Why?" Zuko asked before he thought it unwise.

"Because she is teachable, you are insufferable."

Zuko frowned but he didn't say anymore.

When his mother came to get him, he left promptly. He'd rather spend his time with Ursa.

"I wonder how long he'll cry tonight," Ozai asked himself. Why was his son such a wimp? Maybe if both of his children had been valuable, Azulon would have given Ozai some credence.

* * *

><p>Azula's move for today was a dragging fire kick. Azulon demonstrated by forming a flame with his foot and then kicking it at his opponent so that he burned them and kicked them with one motion. The fire would reach the opponent first, so you kicked him near where you burned him.<p>

Lu Ten learned to make a fire dragon dovetail. It was an expert fire-sculpting move, which made his fire into the shape of a dragon.

To wow them both, Azulon made a dragon and then had it dive down, he split them apart into two dragons and had them swirl around each other until he sent them both towards the sky.

Their jaws dropped. The Fire Lord always had something new.

Ursa didn't notice Azula was gone until her guests arrived.

She had told them that her daughter was going to play the piano, but when she sent the servant to get her, the servant returned just to say, "The Fire Lord has her, Princess."

"What? Why?"

"A firebenders' retreat."

Ursa frowned. Azulon would take her at the last minute, and Azula would leave without saying something to her. She's probably ecstatic to get out of playing the piano.

"I'm sorry. Azula has left with the Fire Lord for the day."

She would have to entertain the socialites herself.

* * *

><p>After firebending practice came fishing. Azulon told Azula hold onto the net, and she did, even when the current pulled her down the river.<p>

Lu Ten had to chase her down and pluck her out, but she did have the bag full of fish.

"I have lunch!" she said soaking wet with a grin on her face.

They butterflied and roasted the fish over an open fire. Azulon showed them his techniques for getting the scales off.

"This is actually an icing knife, but it's perfect for getting scales."

After lunch, they hiked, played fire tag in the woods and basked in the sun.

Azulon's fun side was a well-kept secret. Even Iroh who had seen this side before thought it was mostly gone. To the world, he was the scariest man alive. To his own nation, he was respected more than feared, but those who knew him wouldn't dare trifle with him. To Lu Ten and Azula he was their grandfather. They earned the privilege of seeing him without the crown on his head, and they were rewarded handsomely.

They went inside for dinner. There was a cottage with a full kitchen. He taught them how to make Peking Duck, Azulon style and the next time, he would teach them how to make cow pig belly.

It took over 24 hours to make the dish, so they would be roasting a duck he prepared the day before. Next time, they would prepare the duck and he would judge their work.

Lu Ten and Azula made the vegetable slaw, sauces and the pancakes while the duck roasted.

The smell was just so good. Azula knew this would be a night she never forgot.

Azulon carved the duck perfectly. Next time, Lu Ten would do it, so he watched carefully, observing every gesture.

"Where did you learn to make duck?" Azula asked him.

"I learned from a general I served under before we took Makapu Village. We were still in the planning stages and he invited me to dinner, so we could discuss our options.

I asked him why he didn't just have a cook, and he said, when you respect the whole of someone, not just their title or rank but who they are, you cook for them instead of just delegating it to someone else."

This was the largest compliment Lu Ten and Azula had ever received.

They bowed their head in gratitude and continued to eat.

After the children cleaned up, the palanquin crew came to take them home.

103AG

Azula was boiling the turtle duck. Tomorrow, she would be going on a retreat with her uncle Iroh and her cousin Lu Ten II, and this duck would be their dinner. The Three Musketeers would live on once more. When she looked to the sky, she saw the first two looking back at her.


End file.
